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The Shema, first paragraph

The Shema, first paragraph: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, in Hebrew and in English, each as it appears in the edition cited under it.

Every text below was transcribed from the edition named under it and checked twice, independently, against that edition. That is a claim about wording only: nothing here is selected or endorsed for a particular situation, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed it. Older spelling is kept as the edition prints it.

The Shema, first paragraph

The Shema, first paragraph: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, in Hebrew and in English, each as it appears in the edition cited under it.

English · The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (JPS), 1917

HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;

and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

Jewish Publication Society of America, 1917. Published 1917, before 1929, US public domain. Source

Hebrew · Tanach with Nikkud, a digital edition of the Leningrad Codex, 2026

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד׃

וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶךָ׃

וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם עַל־לְבָבֶךָ׃

וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ׃

וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל־יָדֶךָ וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ׃

וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל־מְזוּזֹת בֵּיתֶךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ׃

Sefaria, from the Unicode/XML Leningrad Codex at tanach.us, 2026. Tanach.us states that all biblical Hebrew text on its site may be viewed or copied without restriction, and Sefaria labels this version Public Domain. Retrieved and verified 2026-09-01. Source

How this text was verified · How the Hebrew was verified

Wording and scope vary between editions and between communities, so each edition here is named and this entry makes no claim about which form is right in a given setting. This is the biblical paragraph, not the Shema as a siddur prints it for prayer: the liturgy runs to three paragraphs, inserts a line after the first verse that is not part of the biblical text, and prints the enlarged ayin and dalet of verse 4 that are shown here at ordinary size.

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